In a big match on Saturday afternoon Real Madrid will be hosting Osasuna at the Bernabeu after the Spanish and European champions suffered two consecutive home defeats to Barcelona in the league and AC Milan Champions League recently.
Real Madrid are second in La Liga on 23 points, nine points behind leaders Barcelona who have played a game more, while Osasuna is fifth with 21 points after 12 games in the current campaign.
It has been less than five months since Real Madrid claimed the Champions League trophy to conquer both the Spanish La Liga season 2023-2024 and the new European season, but demands at the Bernabeu are high, and now the job of head coach Carlo Ancelotti is questionable.
For Los Blancos any defeat is painful but the capital giants were thrashed 4-0 at home by Barcelona in La Liga last October 26 before being spanked 3-1 by Milan at Bernabeu in Champions league on Tuesday.
Los Blancos sit 18th in the Champions League group stage table but should be confident of moving on, though the defeat to Barcelona was far worse in terms of morale and current standing in La Liga.
Real Madrid were supposed to play Valencia in the league last weekends however due to the floods in Spain the match was rescheduled, Barcelona’s success over Espanyol gave the Catalan team an important advantage and opened up a nine point lead at the summit of the Spanish league table.
In other words, Real Madrid need to get a good result this weekend because another bad result before that very important November international break would put Real Madrid even deeper into a crisis situation that might end even La Liga title ambition of the club at this stage if Barcelona should continue to maintain their present scintillating form with a win over Real Sociedad.
Since the 25-year-old hasn't yet found his greatest form while wearing a Real Madrid shirt, Kylian Mbappe is reportedly dissatisfied with his job in the midfield. However, Ancelotti will be hopeful that the Frenchman can get back to his best this weekend.
Since January 2011, Osasuna has failed to defeat Real Madrid in any tournament, and since their historic 3-0 victory in April 2004, they have failed to defeat the capital giants at the Bernabeu in La Liga.
The Pamplona team, however, will go into this game in great form after posting three consecutive victories, two of which have been in La Liga, and they have kept Real Madrid to draws on two of their past three trips to the Bernabeu.
Vicente Moreno's team advanced in the Copa del Rey on Tuesday night with a 5-0 victory over Chiclana, and they have won their previous two league games against Real Sociedad and Real Valladolid without giving up.
With six victories, three draws, and three losses from their 12 league games this season, Osasuna sits in fifth place, just three points behind Real Madrid, who still have a game left.
As the only club to defeat Barcelona in the league this season, Los Rojillos will now aim for a historic victory at Bernabeu against a Real Madrid team that has struggled to establish a rhythm in the first few months of the 2024–25 season.
Ahead of this game, Real Madrid has been dealt a further injury blow: Aurelien Tchouameni's ankle injury against Milan on Tuesday night has kept him out for at least the next month.
Tchouameni has joined David Alaba, Thibaut Courtois, and Dani Carvajal on the Spanish champions' sidelines.
After playing off the bench the previous game, Rodrygo is also anticipated to return to the starting lineup, and Eduardo Camavinga is anticipated to gain from Tchouameni's absence this weekend.
With Ante Budimir expected to play through the midfield, Osasuna's head coach Moreno might choose the same team that entered the field against Real Valladolid at the opening whistle.
In the last third of the field, Budimir, who scored 17 goals in La Liga the previous season and is on six for the 2024–25 campaign, is anticipated to be joined by Ruben Pena and Bryan Zaragoza.
